By Stephen Boyd Over 35 years ago, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan took up the ideas of neo-libearlism and used them as the foundation of what they saw as a new era for capitalism. “The market would discover a natural hierarchy of winners and losers, creating a more efficient system than could ever be devised through planning or by design. ...

By Mick Barry TD The government have been forced to retreat on their pay policy by a wave of strikes. Luas drivers, bus workers and teachers have all taken to the picket lines to oppose wage restraint. The mere threat of strike action by Gardai caused extreme jitters at the Cabinet table. The government were forced to make more than ...

By Laura Fitzgerald In October, the Government refused to give the AAA-PBP bill for a Repeal the 8th referendum, proposed by Socialist Party member, Ruth Coppinger TD, a second reading. It elucidated its interminable time-table for a referendum, namely six months for the Citizens’ Assembly to report, and another six months for the special Oireachtas committee to report to the ...

By Councillor Michael O’Brien The vicious harassment of the sick and unemployed by the Tory government in Britain provoked legendary director Ken Loach, now 80 years of age, to come out of retirement to make one more film. And what a film! ‘I, Daniel Blake’ tells the story of the eponymous character, a carpenter in his late fifties in Newcastle ...

By Councillor Matt Waine On 3 October, the various defendants in the Jobstown trial, accused of falsely imprisoning then Tainaiste and Labour leader, Joan Burton, were assembling outside the Central Criminal Courts when who skips by, only Seanie Fitzpatrick on his way to plead not guilty to the charges of 21 counts of giving false or misleading information. Of course ...

By Megan Oglesby Since 2008, the Irish third level education system has been greatly suffering, with cuts to university funding approximating to a cumulative €600 million over the years of recession and austerity. As a result of this, students were forced to foot the bill with the average annual registration fees growing to €3000 per annum, and student grants offering ...

By Councillor Michael O’Brien Dublin Bus workers in SIPTU and the NBRU have accepted the pay offer of 11.25% over three years that emanated from the talks at the WRC. There is no doubt this higher offer has been won through the strike action spanning six days in September. Dublin Bus workers can hold their heads high as their determined ...

A coil can only be pushed back so much before it recoils and that’s what’s happening now as demands for pay increases are smacking Enda Kenny’s Government and different companies around the head. Garda organisations, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and others seem to be prepared to join workers at Bus Eireann and Irish Rail on a path towards ...